Author: Roger D. LaniusPublisher: RoutledgeISBN: 1134960336Size: 50.46 MBFormat: PDF, ePub, DocsView: 4882Download
This book explores Russia's stunning success of ushering in the space age by launching Sputnik and beating the United States into space. It also examines the formation of NASA, the race for human exploration of the moon, the reality of global satellite communications, and a new generation of scientific spacecraft that began exploring the universe. An introductory essay by Pulitzer Prize winner Walter A. McDougall sets the context for Sputnik and its significance at the end of the twentieth century.

Author: Jean-Paul GaudilliérePublisher: RoutledgeISBN: 1135138613Size: 64.28 MBFormat: PDF, ePub, MobiView: 6174Download
Ideas about the transmission of disease have long formed the core of modern biology and medicine. Heredity and Infection examines their development over the last century. Two scientific revolutions - the bacteriological revolution of the 1890s and the genetic revolution at the start of the twentieth century - acted as the catalysts of major change in our understanding of the causes of illness. As well as being great scientific achievements, these were social and political watersheds that reconfigured the medical and administrative means of intervention. By establishing a clear distinction between transmission by infection and genetic transmission, this shift was instrumental in separating hygiene from eugenism. The authors argue that the popular perception of such a sharp divide stabilized only after 1945 when the use of antibiotics to end epidemics became commonplace. For health professionals the separation has never become an absolute one, and the book examines the various blends of heredity and infection that have preoccupied biology, medicine and the social sciences. Heredity and Infection recontructs the changing epidemiology of such historically important pathologies as tuberculosis , cancer and AIDS. In doing so, it demonstrates the role of experimental models, medical practices and cultural images in the making of contemporary biochemical knowledge.

Author: Annie CanelPublisher: RoutledgeISBN: 1135286817Size: 60.69 MBFormat: PDF, ePub, MobiView: 2790Download
Women engineers have been in the public limelight for decades, yet we have surprisingly little historically grounded understanding of the patterns of employment and education of women in this field. Most studies are either policy papers or limited to statistical analyses. Moreover, the scant historical research so far available emphasizes the individual, single and unique character of those women working in engineering, often using anecdotal evidence but ignoring larger issues like the patterns of the labour market and educational institutions. Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges offers answers to the question why women engineers have required special permits to pass through the male guarded gates of engineering and examines how they have managed this. It explores the differences and similarities between women engineers in nine countries from a gender point of view. Through case studies the book considers the mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion of women engineers.

Author: Grégoire MallardPublisher: RoutledgeISBN: 1135893640Size: 10.60 MBFormat: PDF, MobiView: 7395Download
Global Science and National Sovereignty: Studies in Historical Sociology of Science provides detailed case studies on how sovereignty has been constructed, reaffirmed, and transformed in the twentieth century by the construction of scientific disciplines, knowledge practices, and research objects. Interrogating the relationship of the sovereign power of the nation state to the scientist's expert knowledge as a legitimating – and sometimes challenging – force in contemporary society, this book provides a staggering range of case studies in its exploration of how different types of science have transformed our understanding of national sovereignty in the last century. From biochemical sciences in Russia, to nuclear science in the US and Europe, from economics in South Asia, to climatology in South America, each chapter demonstrates the role that scientists play in the creation of nation-states and international organizations. With an array of experts and scholars, the essays in Global Science and National Sovereignty: Studies in Historical Sociology of Science offer a complete redefinition of the modern concept of sovereignty and an illuminating reassessment of the role of science in political life.

Author: John Lewis GaddisPublisher: Columbia University PressISBN: 9780231122399Size: 52.15 MBFormat: PDF, ePub, DocsView: 6694Download
This book moves beyond the focus on economic considerations that was central to the work of New Left historians, examining the many other forces -- domestic politics, bureaucratic inertia, quirks of personality, and perceptions of Soviet intentions -- that influenced key decision makers in Washington.

Author: J.M. SteelePublisher: Springer Science & Business MediaISBN: 9401595283Size: 32.15 MBFormat: PDF, ePub, DocsView: 2577Download
Eclipses have long been seen as important celestial phenomena, whether as omens affecting the future of kingdoms, or as useful astronomical events to help in deriving essential parameters for theories of the motion of the moon and sun. This is the first book to collect together all presently known records of timed eclipse observations and predictions from antiquity to the time of the invention of the telescope. In addition to cataloguing and assessing the accuracy of the various records, which come from regions as diverse as Ancient Mesopotamia, China, and Europe, the sources in which they are found are described in detail. Related questions such as what type of clocks were used to time the observations, how the eclipse predictions were made, and how these prediction schemes were derived from the available observations are also considered. The results of this investigation have important consequences for how we understand the relationship between observation and theory in early science and the role of astronomy in early cultures, and will be of interest to historians of science, astronomers, and ancient and medieval historians.

Author: Martin W. BauerPublisher: RoutledgeISBN: 1134187289Size: 72.78 MBFormat: PDF, ePub, DocsView: 6430Download
Analyzing the role of journalists in science communication, this book presents a perspective on how this is going to evolve in the twenty-first century. The book takes three distinct perspectives on this interesting subject. Firstly, science journalists reflect on their ‘operating rules’ (science news values and news making routines). Secondly, a brief history of science journalism puts things into context, characterising the changing output of science writing in newspapers over time. Finally, the book invites several international journalists or communication scholars to comment on these observations thereby opening the global perspective. This unique project will interest a range of readers including science communication students, media studies scholars, professionals working in science communication and journalists.

Author: Institute of MedicinePublisher: National Academies PressISBN: 9780309165488Size: 75.33 MBFormat: PDFView: 6945Download
Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research examines current interdisciplinary research efforts and recommends ways to stimulate and support such research. Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars from various fields. This shift is driven by the need to address complex problems that cut across traditional disciplines, and the capacity of new technologies to both transform existing disciplines and generate new ones. At the same time, however, interdisciplinary research can be impeded by policies on hiring, promotion, tenure, proposal review, and resource allocation that favor traditional disciplines. This report identifies steps that researchers, teachers, students, institutions, funding organizations, and disciplinary societies can take to more effectively conduct, facilitate, and evaluate interdisciplinary research programs and projects. Throughout the report key concepts are illustrated with case studies and results of the committeeâ€™s surveys of individual researchers and university provosts.

Author: Roger KeeranPublisher: iUniverseISBN: 1450241727Size: 50.23 MBFormat: PDF, ePub, MobiView: 448Download
"A fresh multi-faceted look at the overthrow of the Soviet State, the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, and the campaign to introduce capitalism from above. Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny have given us a clear and powerful Marxist analysis of the momentous events which most directly shaped world politics today, the destruction of the USSR, the 'Superpower' of socialism." -Norman Markowitz, author of The Rise and Fall of the People's Century "I have not read anything else with such detailed and intimate knowledge of what took place. This manuscript is the most important contribution I have read." -Phillip Bonosky, author of Afghanistan-Washington's Secret War "A well-researched work containing a great deal of useful historical information. Everyone will benefit greatly from the mass of historical data and the thought-provoking arguments contained in the book." -Bahman Azad, author of Heroic Struggle Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR